Current dry mixes used to prepare many instant or ready-to-drink beverages, especially instant flavored coffee beverages, typically comprise a mixture of non-dairy creamers, sweeteners, soluble beverage components (e.g. instant coffee products use soluble coffee) and flavors. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,962 (Stipp). Ready-to-drink beverages, in the form sold to consumers, usually have from 10-20% solids. Consumers usually prepare flavored instant beverages using, on average, 7.5% solids, and generally in the range of 5%-10% solids. Unfortunately, at a 5-10% dosage of solids, instant beverages prepared from current dry mixes are perceived as thin and watery and do not develop any foamy/frothy head. They also lack the creamy mouthfeel, richness, flavor impact and sweetness that is desired by consumers of such products. These important attributes are delivered in ready-to-drink creamy beverages via a high level of solids (&gt;12%) alone, or in combination with hydrocolloids, pectins, and starches.
Creamy beverages, generally, and creamy coffee beverages, in particular, typically rely on finely dispersed fat (i.e., homogenized fat) to deliver mouthfeel. This emulsified fat can be delivered by liquid or spray dried non-dairy creamers, whole milk, or low fat milk. However, the fat found at normal levels in current flavored coffee beverages provides insufficient mouthfeel benefits. These mouthfeel benefits can be improved by increasing the level of fat. However, increasing the level of fat creates other issues such as stability of the fat against oxidative reactions, the development of off-flavors, and the potential instability of the emulsion of the non-dairy creamer. Further, since non-dairy creamers typically contain only 35 to 50% fat, delivering increased mouthfeel can require significantly higher volumes or dosages of powdered products. This makes these powdered products less useful, for the consumer, as spoonable executions.
An alternative approach to deliver mouthfeel is to use ingredients that increase the thickness (viscosity) of the beverage. However, increasing the viscosity of the beverage does not necessarily translate into an increase in desirable mouthfeel attributes. Mouthfeel is more of a sensory perception influenced by forces distinct from those that contribute to viscosity which give the perception of thickness. Hydrocolloid gums and water-soluble starches are typically used to increase beverage thickness (i.e., viscosity). However, hydrocolloid gums can only develop limited mouthfeel and impart negative textural effects such as "sliminess" and "stringiness." In addition, beverage products, especially hot beverages, which incorporate high concentrations of hydrocolloid gums are subject to gel upon cooling.
Water-soluble starches can also be used to increase viscosity and provide limited mouthfeel. However, the quantity of water-soluble starch needed to deliver these attributes is usually so high that more solids are added and the desired target dosage of solids of about 5-10% (generally about 7.5% solids for instant coffee products) cannot be achieved. Mouthfeel, richness, creaminess, sweetness and flavor impact can be increased by delivering a higher dosage of solids, i.e., greater than about 10% solids. However, such a high level of delivered solids requires larger volume of product to be used. This usually translates to an increase in the number of spoonfuls of product required to prepare the beverage.